'Search Party' Showrunner Charles Rogers Is Accused of Sexual Assault
Charles Rogers has been accused of sexually assaulting a production assistant who worked on his TV series Search Party.
Evan Schwartz, who was an assistant on the show from January 2020 to March 2020, shared a photo from the morning after the alleged incident.
“This is a selfie Charles Rogers took on my phone the morning after sexually assaulting me in 2020. I was his driver on the shoot for Search Party. After he took this selfie he joked, ‘I have a lawyer in case someone me too’s me,'” Schwartz wrote via X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, January 6. “I don’t remember falling asleep that night.”
Schwartz worked closely with Rogers, 36, after being hired. “Charles was the writer/director of the show — I was his driver, he was my boss. He indeed handed me a drink right before we left the party, which I drank half of,” he recalled. “My red eyes and drool running down my chin in that photo should say everything you need to know. The psychological damage this has caused me is beyond words.”
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In the post, Schwartz said he was “gaslit” into “exonerating” Rogers from a past investigation conducted by the network.
A source close to production addressed the allegations in a statement, telling The Wrap on Monday, January 8, “Evan recanted his statement in writing after making the claim. Prior to that, an investigation was conducted and the investigators were unable to corroborate any of the allegations.”
Schwartz also stated that he continued to suffer “severe psychosis and delusions” one year after the alleged assault. “Because of the psychotic episode, I believed I made this all up, and I even sent him an email telling him he did nothing wrong,” he wrote, claiming Rogers denied the assault during the investigation.
While Hollywood may appear to be all glitz and glam on the surface, the industry has seen its fair share of scandals through the years. The New York Times and the New Yorker first published investigative pieces in 2017 that accused disgruntled movie producer Harvey Weinstein of decades of sexual assault and harassment. Soon after, Weinstein stood trial and was […]
The production assistant went on to say that Rogers allegedly told the network’s human resources investigator he “wouldn’t know how to drug” someone.
An individual close to Rogers denied the accusations in a statement to The Wrap, saying, “The facts speak for themselves as evidenced by this individual’s decision to retract his own statement amid a thorough, third-party investigation which found no wrongdoing. Charles unequivocally denies this claim regarding a mutually consensual relationship.”
Search Party premiered on TBS in 2016 and ran for two seasons on the network before being moved to WarnerMedia’s Max streaming service. The dark comedy aired three more seasons on Max before coming to an end in 2022. Alia Shawkat, John Reynolds, John Early and Meredith Hagner starred in all five seasons of the show.
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Rogers, meanwhile, cocreated the series with Sarah-Violet Bliss and Michael Showalter. He has also been a writer on TV shows such as Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later. On the big screen, Rogers has directed and written the scripts for Fort Tilden, Black Dog, Red Dog and various other short films.
After Max ordered a fifth and final season of Search Party in February 2021, Rogers and Bliss signed a two-year overall deal, which allowed them to develop new programming for the streamer.
Us Weekly has reached out to Rogers for comment.
